Page 45 of Last Thrall of Asgard

“It is real. It will be. You’re earning it, remember?”

Earning itdidn’t feel right anymore. “Tell me, Loki, what would you do if you weren’t the trickster god who likes to make people laugh?”

“Spend time with my children. With all those I’ve loved.”

It was a more honest answer than I’d expected. “Why not do that? Hel implied you visit her.”

“I do.”

“But not all your children and loved ones? Or… not as much lately?”

He didn’t answer.

“Because you think not all of them want you to visit?”

I took his continued silence as ayes.

“Ihaven’t felt like not having you around yet.” I flicked some of the water again.

“No?”

“No. I almost enjoy your company, irritating as it can be.”

He chuckled.

His mood was as unpredictable as him, which meant all I could do was continue to take chances. I slipped my hand beneath the water’s surface to palm myself. “Do you know what else I enjoy, Loki?”

“I can guess, given your zeal for the task you originally scoffed at.”

I started a leisurely stroke, bringing my limp dick to attention. Godly magic or otherwise, it was quick to bob into my grasp with Loki so close, his voice soft, while I was touching myself. “Can you guess what I’m doing now?”

“…what?”

“Imagining the hand touching me is yours.”

Loki hesitated, but there was acid on his tongue when he said, “I don’t need youraidlike the others.”

“Even if I’m offering it willingly?”

When he didn’t answer, I stroked myself slower, gasping audibly at the first brush of silky prerelease from my tip before the water washed it away.

“Come inside, Loki. Please. Or at least stop pretending you don’t have your eyes on me, always.” He could be a flea in the room. He had done so in stories.

But again, no answer came.

I stopped touching myself and stood. Loki could wax on as much as Thor when he wanted to, which made his silence maddening. “Loki? I know you’re there. Can’t you admit you want me for yourself andtake mealready?”

When there was still no answer, I climbed out of the hot spring, stomped to the door, threw it open, and stepped…

Onto the roots of Yggdrasil.

I stared. Behind me, the hut was gone, because wherever I’d been, I was not there now. I was at the roots, the core of existence, from where all life grew.

The base of the tree was before me, massive like a giant wall, though I could see where it curved right and left from where I stood facing a hollow in its trunk. The cavity was large enough that I could step inside, past minor roots that parted like a curtain. Within was what might have appeared like the stump of a smaller tree, but I could see that the stump was carved out and filled with water. A natural well.

And given theheadresting on its edge with eyes piercing me, I knew which well this had to be: Mímisbrunnr, the well of knowledge.

The well of the headless god Mimir.

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